FDA Approves New Pill to Treat High Cholesterol Levels
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday that it has approved, for the first time, a pill to treat high cholesterol levels in adults. The pill, Lipfendra, from pharmaceutical company Merck, will serve as a treatment to be used alongside diet and exercise to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), also known as 'bad cholesterol.' It will also be used for individuals with a hereditary form of high cholesterol, called heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH). The pill becomes the first oral PCSK9 inhibitor approved by the FDA, entering a market dominated by injectable treatments like Amgen's Repatha and Regeneron and Sanofi's Praluent. According to Merck, its list price will be $10.50 per day, based on a 30-day supply. Lipfendra works by blocking the PCSK9 protein, a liver protein that limits the body's ability to remove bad cholesterol from the blood.
AI summary · Source: Telemundo McAllen (KTLM) →
